On the issues

If Democrat Wendy Davis loses the governor's race next week, there'll be no shortage of commentary on what may have led to her downfall -- early stumbles in conveying her life story to voters, coming across as too poll-tested and stage-managed, going too negative too early on Republican Greg Abbott.

One thing that shouldn't be overlooked, though, is just how static and unfavorable to Democrats the issues environment -- the landscape of concerns that likely will shape voters' decisions -- has been throughout the year. The latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll brought this into focus Monday, showing border-related issues continue to rank as the top problems facing Texans, vastly overshadowing other topics on which voters traditionally tend to trust Democrats more than Republicans.

The campaign Davis has run seems to represent a textbook acknowledgment of this challenging environment, instead focusing on two runner-up issues: corruption (Abbott is an insider looking out for other insiders) and education (Abbott is defending cuts to schools as attorney general). But even those problems combined don't generate nearly the same level of concern Texans are expressing for border-related issues.

To be competitive in this environment, the Davis campaign would have had to own the runner-up issues with no margin of error. That hasn't happened -- Abbott has put Davis on the hot seat for not saying how much her education plan would cost and he's deployed reasonable rebuttals to her allegations of unethical behavior.

The overall effect has added even more of an incline to Davis' inherently uphill battle against Abbott. Come Election Day, it may end up being one of the more persuasvie explanations for a Davis defeat.